What do Trump’s tariffs mean for US-China trade?

Donald Trump postponed his threat to tax all imports from Mexico and Canada this week, citing action by those countries against migration and drug smuggling; but it was telling that tariffs on China went ahead.When it comes to the US’s neighbours, Trump’s Treasury secretary, the hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, made clear in a Fox News interview that tariffs are essentially a negotiating tool – partly aimed at achieving non-economic goals.But Trump’s beef with China is a much more longstanding and more widely shared one, that can be traced back to the deep imbalances between the two economic superpowers.“The grievances with China are far more genuine than grievances with Mexico, or with Canada,” says Neil Shearing, the chief economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, who is now writing a book about the clash between the rival economies.So it should not have been a surprise that Trump pressed ahead with promised 10% tariffs on China, which rapidly hit back with levies on a range of US goods

UK urged to close tax loophole to prevent ‘massive influx’ of Shein and Temu goods

Tax campaigners have joined retailers in urging the UK government to close a tax loophole to prevent a “massive influx” of cheap goods from companies such as Shein and Temu flooding the market.It comes after the EU said it was joining the US in phasing out an exemption on customs duties for low-value parcels that has been used by the companies to export goods from China cheaply.The rule changes are seen as likely to hit trade into the EU and US by marketplaces such as Shein, prompting a report by Reuters that the online seller will have to cut the valuation of its hoped-for London stock market listing to $50bn (£40bn), about 20% below previous expectations.Paul Monaghan‬, the chief executive of the Fair Tax Foundation, said that in the light of the rule changes in the EU and US, the UK “can expect a massive influx of even more Shein and Temu products”, unless action was taken. “The government needs to tighten the gaping UK VAT and import tax loopholes as soon as possible to protect consumers and keep the high street alive

Trump’s meme coin sparks more than 700 copycats posing as official crypto

Despite once calling cryptocurrency “a scam”, Donald Trump made a theoretical fortune of billions after launching a self-named and highly controversial meme coin immediately before his second inauguration in January.Now an army of digital imposters is trying to cash in on the president’s name and online presence to make their own crypto killing, according to a report in the Financial Times that details hundreds of “copycat and spam coins” uploaded to Trump’s official wallet in cyberspace.Creators sent more than 700 new meme coins to the wallet in recent weeks, many named after Trump or his family members – but none of them have any formal connection.Experts say speculators can be easily duped by names that make it seem the fake coins are allied to the real $Trump cryptocurrency – which itself has seen a precipitous collapse in value – and risk the digital equivalent of being taken to the cleaners.Eswar Prasad, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an economics professor at Cornell University, told the FT that by launching his own coin, Trump had “opened the floodgates to deception … and at a minimum to rampant speculation”

Parents sue TikTok over child deaths allegedly caused by ‘blackout challenge’

The parents of four British teenagers have sued TikTok over the deaths of their children, which they claim were the result of the viral “blackout challenge”.The lawsuit claims Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died in 2022 while attempting the “blackout challenge”, which became popular on social media in 2021.The US-based Social Media Victims Law Center filed the wrongful death lawsuit against the social media platform TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, on behalf of the children’s parents on Thursday.Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, said: “It’s no coincidence that three of the four children who died from self-suffocation after being exposed to the dangerous and deadly TikTok blackout challenge lived in the same city and that they all fit a similar demographic.“TikTok’s algorithm purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue

Super Bowl repeat or revenge? Whatever happens, history will be made

Patrick Mahomes can become the first quarterback to win four titles before turning 30 while Saquon Barkley has a shot at breaking the postseason rushing recordA spectre of inevitability hangs over New Orleans in the final run-up to America’s high holy day. The Kansas City Chiefs, having spent the past half-decade as the National Football League’s most dominant force, are on the verge of something never before seen: a third successive Super Bowl title.Theirs is a kind of supremacy that feels almost unnatural in the modern NFL, an era defined by salary caps and roster churn and parity-by-design, where success is intended to be fleeting in the best interests of the revenue-sharing collective. Yet here they are again, winners of 17 games so far and one more from a three-peat no team in the six-decade Super Bowl era has even come within 60 minutes of accomplishing.Standing in their way are a team they know well

Bright lights of Las Vegas cannot dim the dark clouds over Super League

A showcase in Nevada and a new season imminent, but only the clubs with rich benefactors are likely to thrive in 2025The new Super League season begins next week with a growing level of excitement around rugby league’s premier competition. Wigan Warriors face Leigh Leopards in a mouthwatering derby as they look to emulate last year’s quadruple, before the sport heads to Las Vegas next month for an historic fixture between Wigan and Warrington.Crowds are up, interest is growing and the sport has every reason to be optimistic. But skim beneath the surface and these are fascinating times on a financial level, prompting plenty of intrigue about how things look at boardroom level.Four of the clubs who competed in Super League last year have been subject to some sort of takeover during the winter with two of those – Salford and London Broncos – facing financial difficulties